I'm Coming Back For You
by awkwardfandomtrash
Summary: Clementine thought she had seen and done it all. She had thought that surviving the apocalypse had prepared her for everything, but not for a world full of monsters and magic. Now, armed with nothing but the determination and the thought of finding AJ, she'll have to fight her way back to the surface.
1. Fallen Down

If there was one thing that Clementine hated about her life, it was her luck.

Not only had she been forced to grow up in an apocalyptic world, she had lost both of her parents, all of her friends, and had been forced to shoot her guardian before he could become one of those...those _things_.

But the past forty-eight hours had easily proved to be the worst she had experienced since the end. After stealing medicine from the New Frontier - a group she swore to take down if it was the last thing she did - to help her charge, AJ. She'd been kicked out of the group, and had her little goofball taken away from her. But, before she could come up with a rescue plan, she'd been attacked by walkers.

Armed with nothing but a broken dagger, the young teenager fought her way through the small cluster of undead beasts. But she quickly realized that she had gotten turned around during the fray, and had no clue where that asshole David's camp was.

Growling to herself, the teen chose a direction in hopes that she had chosen the right direction.

That was how she found the mountain.

"Son of a bitch!" She screamed, no longer caring about the risk of attracting walkers. "How the _fuck_ did I end up here?!"

Maybe this was fate's way of saying that she couldn't save AJ; that she should just give up.

"Fuck..."

The girl looked at back at the woods that she had traversed through. There was no way in hell that she'd be able to find David and the New Frontier. And even then, what she going to do? Stab them with half a dagger until they either gave her AJ or shot her?

"Why does this always happen to me?" She asked herself, dropping her cold demeanor. "Why is it that every time - every _fucking_ time - I try to protect someone I care about, I end up losing them?"

She wished she could go back to the days where she didn't have to worry about surviving. Back to when she could act as carefree as she wanted without the risk of being killed or robbed.

" _Raugh..._ " Clementine was suddenly pulled from her self-pity by the sound of walkers. She looked back at the woods and saw a herd of walkers creeping towards her.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." She considered killing the nearest walker and covering herself with its scent, but she knew that the rest of the herd would tear her apart before she could.

 _'Guess I'm going hiking,'_ she thought as she ran towards the mountain.

Running as quickly as she could, Clementine headed towards the mountain top, praying that she'd be able to lose these undead fuckers. She was certain that she'd come out on top this time; that she'd be able to escape and find her only companion left in this hellhole of a world. She glanced back at the herd and grinned as she watched them fall behind.

And then she tripped on a root.

She instinctively clutched her ankle and winced when she realized that is was sprained. Her chance at escaping was gone. As the herd drew nearer, Clementine sighed. She had come so far, and had survived many horrors during the apocalypse, only to be done in by a dead root.

Life just had to get in one more cruel joke, didn't it?

Clementine tuned out the sound of the approaching walkers, and surveyed her surroundings. There was nothing that could help her defend herself.

"There couldn't have been a machine gun or something?"

Hey, if she was about to die, then she might as well try and get in one more snarky remark.

Looking around one last time, the young woman spotted a hole in the ground, not far from where she currently was. Not wanting to put pressure on her injured ankle and risk tumbling down towards the herd, she crawled towards it.

She wasn't sure why the hole interested her, but she figured that she had time to kill before the herd killed her. She looked down into pit, and found that she couldn't see the bottom.

 _'Well, dying in a hole in a mountain beats turning into one of them.'_

Clementine took a deep breath, and plunged into the mountain.

"I'm sorry I couldn't keep you safe, Goofball," she said, thinking about AJ. "Lee, I'm sorry that I wasn't able to keep myself safe. I'm sorry for everything that I've done and for the people that I've gotten killed."

Clementine sighed and closed her eyes. She hadn't imagined her life ending like this. She always figured that she'd probably end up being shot, or that AJ would shoot her after being bitten.

Time seemed to slow down as she made her descent. As she fell, she thought about the people that she had met throughout the four and a half years of death and turmoil that had faced. Friendly faces such as Luke, Lee, and Kenny came to mind. Even assholes and awful people such as Carver, the Stranger, and the St. Johns.

Clementine sighed again as she realized the ground was coming closer. She knew that life wasn't fair, but she found herself silently swearing and crying about how she didn't want it to end yet.

 _'At least I'll get to see them again,'_ she thought as she felt her back hit the ground.

* * *

"Jesus _fucking_ Christ, everything hurts!" Clementine groaned as she regained consciousness.

The injured girl looked at her surroundings, confused as to how she ended up here. She looked down and saw that she was lying in a bed of flowers. The room - Cavern? She wasn't entirely sure yet - had spider webs growing here and there, showing that no one had been here in a very long time.

"Maybe that shit with the walkers was a dream. There's no way in hell that someone could survive a fall like that."

But, looking up at the ceiling proved her wrong. For up at the top was an incredibly small hole that was letting light in.

"Huh, you'd think that after all the shit I've been through, that would've been the end. Not that I'm complaining though."

The young survivor stood up and winced as the pain coming from her ankle. Taking another look around, she found an old branch that looked as though it could support her weight. She picked it up and applied pressure, hoping that it wouldn't snap. Thankfully, it didn't.

Clementine limped through the cavern and walked through an old doorway. The next room seemed to be emptier than the first, with only another doorway and a single flower in the middle.

For some reason, she felt as though she wasn't alone.

"Hello?" She called, brandishing her broken dagger. "If there's anyone here, you better show yourself!"

"Howdy!" an unknown voice called.

"What the-? Where are you? Show yourself!"

"Down here!" the voice called.

Clementine looked down and gasped in surprise. The voice that had called to her wasn't a person, but the flower.

"Howdy!" it said again, a large smile adorning its face. "My name is Flowey, Flowey the Flower!"

 _'The hell have I gotten myself into?'_

* * *

 **Author's note:** And that's the first chapter done! I've been binge playing TWDG for the past few days and I felt the need to write this. At first, I considered taking something cutesy (Like Sofia the First or somethin') and putting that into a Walking Dead type situation, but I wanted to include Clem in some way, so this happened. See ya next time!


	2. Ruins

Clementine stared at the flower in disbelief. She had seen plenty of things in her life - most of which left her scarred in both a literal and metaphorical sense - but a talking flower easily topped them all.

"Hmm," said Flowey, looking her over, "You're new to the Underground, aren'tcha?"

Clementine nodded dumbly. "Y-yeah." She briefly wondered if she was suffering from a concussion.

"Golly, you must be so confused. Someone ought to teach you how things work around here! I guess little ol' me will have to do!"

Clementine shook herself out of her stupor. There was something about this flower that set of several warning bells. Well, aside from the fact that the damn thing was even alive.

"Ready?" Clementine nodded. "Here we go!"

Everything around the teenager suddenly turned to black, and a red heart the size of her hand appeared in front of her chest.

"See that heart? That's your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!"

Clementine wasn't sure if Flowey was telling the truth or not, but if he was, she certainly wasn't comfortable with her soul being out in the open.

"Your SOUL starts off weak-"

 _'Rude.'_

"But can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV!" Flowey suddenly looked perplexed. "That's odd. It seems that you're already at LV three."

"Is that bad?"

"No, no. It's just unusual. The few newcomers that have shown up are usually at LV one when they arrive."

"What does LV stand for anyways?"

Flowey cleared whatever he had that passed for a throat. "Right, LV stands for LOVE."

Clementine's immediate thought was 'bullshit,' but decided to keep it to herself.

"You want some LOVE, don't you?"

 _'I'm gonna fucking kill this little creep.'_

"Don't worry, I'll share some with you." Flowey gave the girl a wink, which only raised even more red flags.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through little white..." he paused, and summoned a semi-circle of pellets, "'friendliness pellets.' Are you ready? Move around! Get as many as you can!"

Clementine watched as the pellets clustered together and floated towards her.

'How stupid does this thing think I am?' Clementine backed away and let the pellets fly by her.

"Hey girly," the flower said, his cheerful demeanor chipping away, "you missed them."

"The name's Clementine. And sorry, I guess I just wasn't paying attention."

If the flower was going to toy with her, then she might as well do the same.

"Well, let's try again." Flowey summoned more 'friendliness pellets,' and sent them towards Clementine. The teenager pretended that her ankle was hurting more than she let on and ducked under the pellets.

"Is this a joke? Are you braindead? RUN. INTO. THE. BULLETS! Er, friendliness pellets."

Clementine smirked at the flower's growing impatience with her. Side-stepping past the next wave of bullets, she prepared to call the flower out on his lies. She wasn't prepared for what happened next.

The flower was suddenly donning an unsettling look and was speaking in a high-pitched squeak. "You know what's going on here, don't you?"

"Obviously," she responded, refusing to let herself be intimidated by a weed. "Anyone with half a brain stem could see through your bull."

Flowey's eye twitched. "Then die, worthless scum."

As Flowey laughed at the teen's demise, a ring of bullets was closing in on Clementine, who was completely taken aback.

 _'At least I got a few more minutes of life,'_ she thought, now resigning herself to her fate.

But, before the bullets could touch the girl, they disappeared. Clem also noticed that her injuries weren't there. Even the burn from when she was branded by the New Frontier.

 _'Am I dying or living? Make up your damn mind, fate.'_

A fireball flashed by and knocked Flowey away from the girl. A large goat-like woman walked up to Clementine and offered the girl her hand.

Clementine stared at her; her eyes practically bulging from their sockets.

"Such a terrible creature," the woman sighed while glaring at a retreating Flowey, "torturing such a poor, innocent youth..."

 _'She's right about the poor part,'_ Clem thought to herself.

"Ah, do not be afraid, my child," the woman - Goat? - said, seeming to pick up on Clementine's distress. "I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I pass through this place every day to see if someone has fallen down."

There was something about that revelation that put Clem found off-putting, but she had a feeling that, unlike Flowey, Toriel had good intentions by doing so.

"Well," Clementine nervously grinned, unsure of what to say, "I'm Clementine. Thanks for saving me."

"It was no trouble at all, Clementine. You are the first human to come here in a long time."

"Not surprising, considering what's happening up top."

Toriel looked confused. "By the sound of it, much has changed since the last human's arrival. "Come! I shall guide you through the catacombs. This way."

Clementine watched as Toriel walked towards the doorway that she had spotted when she had met Flowey.

As she followed Toriel through the doorway, Clementine felt the shadows of the Ruins looming ahead. It filled her with determination.

* * *

"Welcome you to your new home, Clementine." The girl in question felt a pang of sadness when she heard that. It meant that she'd lost any chance at finding AJ. "Allow me to educate you in the operation of the Ruins."

Clem watched as Toriel stepped on several buttons on the floor and pulled a switch on the wall.

"The Ruins are full of puzzles. Ancient fusions between diversions and door-keys. One must solve them to move from room to room."

'If any walkers show up, they'll have a hard time getting through here,' Clem grinned. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

As the two walked to the next room, Toriel decided to make conversation.

"Clementine, earlier you said that you didn't find the idea that no human has been here in a long time not surprising. What did you mean by that?"

The teen sighed. She knew this would have come up eventually. "When I was eight, the dead started to rise up. Nobody knows how or why, but it happened. If a person was bit, they died and came back too. The same happens if you die and don't destroy the brain."

Toriel shuddered. "I'm sorry that you had to suffer through that for so long, Clementine."

The goat-woman seemed to be struggling to discuss the surface world any longer, so Clementine felt that it was best to change the subject.

"So, uh...what's the puzzle for this room?"

"O-oh, just some switches that need pulling. I've already labeled them should you ever need to use them."

Had it not been for the reveal of what the human world was like, Clementine would've laughed at how Toriel had drawn as many arrows as she could by each switch.

After pulling each one, she watched as the spikes that were blocking their way to the next room retracted. She had to admit, the puzzles were a little fun.

* * *

"As a human living in the Underground, monsters may attack you."

"So, I just need to fight them, right?"

"Technically. When you encounter a monster, you will enter a FIGHT."

"Like with Flowey?"

"Correct. While in a FIGHT, try and strike up a friendly conversation and stall for time. I will come and resolve the situation as quickly as I can."

Clementine wasn't sure about that. What if she were to encounter a monster that couldn't be stalled? What if the monster didn't understand what she was saying and tried to hurt her anyway? But, Toriel probably knew what she was talking about, so Clem tried not to question it.

"Here, practice talking to this dummy."

Clem felt the uncomfortable tug of her SOUL leaving her body. She hoped it was something that she wouldn't have to get accustomed to.

She stared at the dummy, and the dummy stared back.

"Uh, hi?" God, she felt stupid doing this. "Nice weather we're having, huh?"

She suddenly exited the fight and was greeted by Toriel, who was smiling warmly.

"Very good, Clementine!"

The goat-woman grinned and led Clementine to the next room.

"There's another puzzle in the next room. I'd like to see if you can solve it on your own."

Clementine found that Toriel spoke to her as though she were a small child, even though she was thirteen now, but Clementine figured that the older woman was used to being around younger children, so she tried not to dwell on it.

"Whoa!" Clementine shouted in surprise as she was pulled into a FIGHT.

The monster she had encountered was a stark white frog. It was about the size of a large dog and had a mysterious face in between its front legs. Clementine's first instinct was to pull out her broken dagger and stab the creature, but she remembered what Toriel had told her to do.

"Uh, hi there, Mr. Frog." She cringed at her lack of proper social skills. The apocalypse really hadn't done her any favors in the socializing department. "I like your...face?"

Thankfully, Toriel arrived and scared the frog away before Clem could make an even bigger fool of herself.

"That," said Toriel as they made their way to the next room, "was a Froggit. They're not the worst type of monster in the Ruins, but it'd be best to watch your back around them."

The two women made their way to a large bridge full of spikes. Toriel advised Clementine to take her hand as they walked across, which the girl did without any hesitation. The last thing she needed after the last week was to get skewered.

"Usually, this is where I would test your independence by having you walk through this room on your own. But, given what you've had to experience on the surface, I'm sure that you can handle yourself."

The old woman reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a cellphone.

"I'm afraid I must leave you on your own for a while. Please, stay here. Call me if you need anything."

Clementine nodded in understanding and watched as Toriel left the room. The teenager felt that this was a good time to take inventory. Aside from her broken dagger, her new phone, and her hat, there wasn't very much that was of any use or value to her.

Clementine eyed her new phone and smiled wistfully. She remembered when she was seven and had pestered her parents for a phone. But every time she had asked, they told her that she was too young for one, which led to them getting her walkie-talkies instead.

After a few more minutes of reminiscing about life before the walkers, the teen found herself getting restless. She knew that Toriel had told her to stay put, but she had grown accustomed to always being on the move. After all, it was either that or get killed.

"Sorry Toriel, but this girl has a thirst for exploration."

* * *

 **Author's note:** Weird. I didn't think that I'd be posting two of these in the span of a few hours. Moving on from that, let's talk a little more about this story. Originally, I was going to call this 'Oh, My Darling' and have the chapters sort of relate to the title. Like, the previous one would've been called 'Has Fallen Down' (So it'd be 'Oh, My Darling Has Fallen Down), and this one would've been 'In the Ruins.' Welp, see ya next time!


	3. Determination

"Ribbit."

"Holy shit!" Clementine swung her dagger in surprise and nearly beheaded the froggit sitting near the door.

"Ribbit," the monster croaked again. But this time, Clem thought that she could understand what it was saying.

 **"Excuse me, human. I have some advice for you about battling monsters."**

"I'm...not even going to question this."

 **"If you ACT a certain way, or FIGHT until you almost defeat them, they might not want to battle you anymore. If a monster does not want to fight you, please...use some mercy."**

"If you say so."

"Ribbit."

Clementine walked away from the amphibious monster and absentmindedly stepped through a pile of leaves. It reminded her of when she once let AJ play in a leaf pile. She had spent at least an hour making sure that there wasn't anything nearby that could hurt the tyke. Sighing at the memory, Clementine felt determined to survive for the both of them.

Walking out of the pile, Clementine yelped as she felt herself being pulled into a FIGHT.

"God, I fucking hate it when this happens!" She muttered to herself. Clementine looked at the monster and found herself suddenly pitying it.

The poor thing looked as though it hadn't meant to engage in the FIGHT and looked desperate to get away.

"Uh, are you alright?"

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, the small monster began weeping, and fled as quickly as it could.

Bemused, Clementine left the room. She hadn't meant to drive the monster to tears.

"God, I hope nobody else here is that sensitive."

* * *

Luckily, none of the other monsters were as sensitive as the little guy, whom Clementine later learned was called a Whimsun.

This didn't stop some of the other monsters from being extremely tedious.

The Froggits - whom Clementine originally believed to be absentminded and incapable of hurting a fly - had managed to rough her up quite a bit. Ironically enough, flies just so happened to be what they attacked her with.

Clutching her now broken arm, Clementine stumbled into the next room. She was hoping that the next monster she encountered would be something other than one of those damned amphibians; she wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep herself from killing one.

The room was short, and thankfully devoid of any monsters, but what Clementine didn't notice was that floor was old and ready to give way.

"Son of a bitch!" she swore as she fell through. Luckily, she hadn't fallen far enough to damage anything aside from her pride. "Honestly, you'd think I'd stop having all the close calls."

Instead of looking for a way out, Clementine took this time to rest. She knew that back on the surface, this probably would've ended with a walker taking a bite out her, but she felt that after all the shit that she'd been through, she deserved a break.

She wondered how Duck or Sarah would've reacted if this had happened to them. Duck - as the origin of his nickname suggested - probably would've taken it in stride and would've found the Underground to be cool.

On the other hand, Sarah likely would've suffered a panic attack after realizing that she'd been separated from Carlos. But, she too would've more than likely grown accustomed to eccentricities of the Ruins and some of its residents.

God, she missed them both. The world had gone to shit, and they hadn't lost that childhood innocence that Clementine had had to throw away to survive. Well, Duck hadn't lost it. Carlos' death had hit Sarah pretty hard. But, if that damn deck hadn't collapsed under her, she probably could've learned to live with the harshness of the world they lived in.

And if Ben hadn't been supplying those _fucking_ bandits-

 _RING, RING_

"Huh?"

 _RING, RING_

Clementine pulled her cellphone and grimaced. She'd been so caught up in the past that she hadn't noticed Toriel calling her. Who knew how long the phone had been ringing?

"Hello?" Clementine answered, hoping Toriel wouldn't be too upset.

 _"Oh, thank heavens! I was worried that something had happened to you! You...are okay, aren't you?"_

"I-I'm fine, Toriel. Just, uh, just thinking about..." she trailed off. She liked the old woman, but she wasn't ready to talk about any of her former comrades yet.

 _"I see..."_ sighed Toriel, once again picking up on the young girl's distress. _"Well, I hate to be a bother, but I need to ask, do you have any allergies?"_

"N-no, not any that I know of."

 _"Excellent! Erm, I must ask; do you prefer butterscotch or cinnamon?"_

Clementine honestly didn't care either way. Food was food regardless of taste. But, not wanting to come off as rude, Clementine answered with butterscotch.

 _"Wonderful! Well, I'll see you soon, my child."_ And with that, the goat woman hung up.

Clem stood up and wiped away the tears she unknowingly shed. Thinking about the people in her life whom had passed always did this to her, especially...

 _'No,'_ she thought bitterly. _'I absolutely_ **refuse** _to think about him.'_

Clementine walked through the door leading out of the room, hoping that she'd be able to put the past behind her.

* * *

"Whoa there, pardner! Who said you could push me around?"

Why was this rock talking? Out of every - _fucking_ \- thing that was alive down here, it just had to be a rock.

"S-sorry about that," she apologized, trying to ignore the complete weirdness of the situation. "I was only trying to solve the puzzle. Could you please scoot over a bit?"

"Okay," the rock answered, "just for you, pumpkin."

The rock barely moved an inch.

"Err, could you move just a little further?"

"Alright, how's this?"

Instead of moving onto the pressure plate that would solve the puzzle, the rock shifted to its left.

Clementine was quickly losing patience. "Sorry, but I was wondering if you could move onto that button."

"The wrong direction, huh? Alright, I think I got it."

This time, the rock managed to move itself onto the plate.

 _'About time!'_

But, as soon as Clementine made her way to the small bridge that lead to the next room, the previously concealed spikes shot out at her.

 _'I'm going to murder that fucking rock...did I really just say that?'_

After talking to the rock once again, Clementine was on her way once again.

* * *

The next room was considerably smaller than the ones she had been in beforehand. Inside was a mouse hole and a table with a plate of cheese. Clementine saw the mouse trying in vain to move the piece of dairy, only to find that it was stuck to the table. Watching the mouse valiantly trying to claim its food filled the young girl with determination.

* * *

 _'Shit, shit, shit!'_

Clementine had somehow managed to find herself in a FIGHT with a ghost. The ghost had simply been lying in Clem's path, so the girl had asked them to move, only to end up engaging in a fight with the despondent specter.

The ghost was crying their eyes out, and each time a tear hit Clementine, she got more and more hurt.

 _'Alright, talking doesn't seem to be doing anything. Guess it's time for a real FIGHT!'_

But, before she could even get a chance, a stray tear hit her SOUL. Clementine watched in horror as the little heart cracked...and suddenly shattered.

"Oh, fuck me," she sighed as she felt herself dying.

* * *

 _Clementine awoke in a black void. She couldn't see anything, and she couldn't hear anything aside from her own heartbeat._

 _"Is this it? Am I finally dead?"_

 _"C..." a nearly inaudible voice said. "Stay de...mined!"_

 _"What?" Clementine frantically looked around the void in search of the voice's owner, but she found nothing._

 _Suddenly, the empty space was filled with a blinding light. It made Clementine think of the old movies she had watched with her mother. The main character was always being told not to go into the light, but the young girl was compelled to do so. Clementine cautiously reached out for the light._

'I'm already dead,' _she reasoned,_ 'so I might as well.'

 _Clementine clutched the light and groaned as the void became even brighter._

* * *

Clementine wearily opened her eyes. She sat up and looked around the room; trying to figure out where she was. She saw the table from earlier and saw the mouse still trying to grab its cheese.

"What the hell?"

The young teenager stood up, and slowly walked out into the next room. She saw the same ghost from before, still lying on the ground and pretending to be asleep. She was just about to confront the spirit when she realized something very important.

Her injuries were gone.

What the fuck was going on? She knew that she had died. She had watched her SOUL shatter. So why was she back? She wanted to assume that it had been a dream, but it had felt much too real for that to be the case.

Just what the hell was going on?

Clementine felt the need to see if what had just happened actually occurred. She knew that the chances that it had all been a dream and that she actually going to die this time were incredibly high, but she couldn't help it. This was just too strange to ignore. So, with a newfound sense of determination, she approached the ghost.

 _'This is gonna suck.'_

* * *

 **Author's note:** I'll admit, I don't like this chapter as much as the previous two, but I've written worse. Now, I just wanted to mention that I've ever so slightly bent Undertale's canon. So, instead of Clementine healing when she saves, she'll do it when she comes back. And that part with Duck and Sarah, there's going to be a lot of moments like that. Especially when Clementine meets a few specific characters.

 **Post Scripture:** I regret not calling this story 'Clementale'


End file.
